Pierre Amilhat is responsible for the European Commission’s cooperation and development programmes across Asia, the Middle East and Gulf, and the Pacific. He has spoken on a number of occasions about EU-China relations in terms of green growth along the Belt and Road route, as well as trade and investment between the two. With more than 20 years of experience in the Commission, Amilhat has previously worked in maritime affairs and fisheries, external relations and trade, and has also served in the EU Delegation to Vietnam. 

As rapporteur of the latest European Parliament report on EU political relations with ASEAN, as well as a part of the European Parliament delegation for relations with the countries of Southeast Asia and ASEAN, Reinhard Bütikofer has a deep understanding and expertise of the region. Bütikofer travels frequently to Southeast Asia, not only to promote stronger ties with the European Union but also to support and bolster trade and investment. Bütikofer is a strong advocate for peace within the region, including for the resolution of disputes in the South China Sea.

Chem Srey Oeun is a researcher at Kantar TNS Cambodia, one of the world’s leading data, insight and consultancy companies, where she has led work on young people, elections and democracy, gender and other social issues. She is the author of the report “Cambodian Millennial Trends”, which analyses the consumer habits of young Cambodians. She was nominated in the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) in 2016, the US programme to connect young leaders from ASEAN countries. Before joining Kantar TNS, she worked for Australian Volunteers International, a not-for-profit organisation promoting economic and social development across Asia and the Pacific.

The first woman career diplomat to be appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in ASEAN and in Asia, Delia Domingo-Albert’s forty years’ distinguished career in the Foreign Ministry of the Philippines includes such high-level positions as Director General of the ASEAN National Secretariat, Undersecretary for International Economic Relations and Ambassador to Australia and Germany. She was awarded the Knight Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Germany for her efforts in promoting Filipino-German but also ASEAN-EU relations, and is currently a Senior Advisor to SGV Ernst & Young Philippines.

In her current position, Helena König leads European effort to boost trade relations with ASEAN, with bilateral trade accounting to more than €240 billion in 2015. She is responsible for the negotiations of the trade agreements with the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia and was central in the finalisation of the EU-Vietnam FTA. She has worked on EU-Asia since 1997, previously serving as Head of Unit for trade relations with South and Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand and as Deputy Head of Unit for Southeast Asia in the Directorate General for External Relations, where she worked on the political aspects of EU relations with the ASEAN countries.

Jean-Pierre Lehmann is a leading expert on globalisation, global governance, trade and development, the role of business in reduction of poverty and inequality and the socio-economic, cultural, and business dynamics of Asia. He is currently Professor Emeritus at IMD, a top-ranked business school in Switzerland, specialising in corporate leadership development, and is also Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Business and Economics of Hong Kong University. He is a frequent contributor in numerous journals and online publications including Project Syndicate, the Globalist, South China Morning Post or Forbes.

As Secretary General of the ASEAN, Ong Keng Yong campaigned for ASEAN’s increased regional integration. He led the ASEAN Secretariat to facilitate the early adoption of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint in 2007, which laid the foundation for the establishment of the AEC in 2015. Ambassador Ong currently heads the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, one of the leading research institutions in international affairs in the Asia-Pacific. He is concurrently Ambassador-at-Large at the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs, non-resident High Commissioner to Pakistan and non-resident Ambassador to Iran.

Surin Pitsuwan, one of Asia’s best-known and most influential thinkers, led ASEAN from 2008 to 2012. During his time as Secretary General of ASEAN, he was tasked with implementing the ASEAN Charter and preparing the region for entry into the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015. His tenure saw the rise of the regional organisation into an important global player in international affairs. He also served as Thailand’s Foreign Minister from 1997 to 2001, during which time he played a major role in restoring peace in East Timor. He is currently the Chair of the International IDEA Board of Advisors.

With more than 35 years of experience in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, Wiryono Sastrohandoyo has represented Indonesia in several European countries and international organisations, including as Ambassador to France and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Vienna and International Atomic Energy Agency. A leading mediator and peacemaker in Southeast Asia, he was Chief Facilitator for the signature of the ceasefire between the Government of Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and led the negotiations with the Aceh Freedom Movement for the government of Indonesia. He is a member of the ASEAN Regional Forum Expert and Eminent Persons Group.

Ma Thida is a leading intellectual whose writings deal with her country’s political situation. In 1993, she was sentenced to prison for 20 years for “endangering public peace, having contact with illegal organisations, and distributing unlawful literature”. She was released in 1999, partly due to international pressure from organisations like PEN International, of which she is now a board member. Her books include ‘The Roadmap’, a fictional story based on events in Burmese politics from 1988 to 2009 and ‘Prisoner of Conscience’, a memoir about her political imprisonment. She has won several international human rights awards, including the Reebok Human Rights Award, the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, the Freedom of Speech Award and the Disturbing the Peace; Courageous Writer at Risk Award.

Dau Anh Tuan is a key expert on the development of the private sector and foreign investment in Vietnam. As Director-General of the Legal Department of VCCI, the largest national association in Vietnam, he plays a leading role in advocating for the interest of private sector business and foreign enterprises in Vietnam, liaising between the business community and the Vietnamese government on international trade and business-related issues. In 2013, he was selected as an Eisenhower Fellow, a global network of leaders pursuing concrete projects to promote peace and prosperity.

Yuyun Wahyuningrum is an Indonesian human rights defender who works closely with the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, and advises numerous NGOs in ASEAN including the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG), ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), the Southeast Asian Initiatives for Human Rights Governance and Accountability (SIHRA), and Women Voices in ASEAN (WEAVE). She was until January 2017 the Team Leader of the Regional EU-ASEAN Dialogue Instrument on Human Rights Facility (READI HRF), supporting ASEAN’s integration agenda. She is currently a PhD Researcher at Erasmus University Rotterdam, where her research deals with human rights norms with a particular focus on ASEAN as a site of contestation.

With more than twenty years’ experience in the EU’s external relations and trade policy, Gunnar Wiegand has previously served as Spokesman for External Relations to Commissioner Chris Patten; Head of Unit for Relations with the United States and Canada at the European Commission’s External Relations Directorate-General; and Deputy Managing Director for Europe and Central Asia at the EEAS, during which time he was the EU’s Chief Negotiator for the Association Agreements with Moldova, Georgia and Armenia, as well as the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Kazakhstan. Wiegand also acted as the EU’s Chief Negotiator for the new EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement.